Best way to breed clownfish?

[Skay]

Lucked out and found local reefer getting out of the hobby and gave me this bonded pair of clowns. They are about 4 years old. Interested in possibly breeding them, not sure where to start. Most youtube videos focus on after they lay eggs, my question is how do i get there lol. I got them set up in a 10 gallon with an anemone i should probably get a tile to put in there right? I know they won’t bother for a while cause they just moved but is there any steps i should take as of now? If this works out everyone is getting free clowns lol (if you’re local to orlando) Absolutely love this strain i believe premium frostbite or blackice.

 

[sabeypets]

The lower left clown looks really thin.

 

[Mattiejay6]

Best way to breed is heavy feeding with high quality food. Ditch the anemone if you’re focused on breeding and put a clay pot in there for them to host.

 

[Narideth]

The lower left clown looks really thin.

I was thinking the exact same thing. Feed those clowns up, they're really gorgeous! Makes me miss my poor clowns.

 

[Skay]

I was thinking the exact same thing. Feed those clowns up, they're really gorgeous! Makes me miss my poor clowns.

i believe it’s the angle the one on the right was a lot closer to the camera, left is the female and she’s a lot bigger in person! I’m feeding pemysis shrimp mixed with prime flakes and they gobble all of it up. Truly stunning clowns wish this site didn’t compress photos

 

[Skay]

Best way to breed is heavy feeding with high quality food. Ditch the anemone if you’re focused on breeding and put a clay pot in there for them to host.

alright i’ll see if i can put it in my bigger tank without it nuking my corals lol. I’m feeding pemysis mixed with prime flakes and they eat all of it, anything specific you recommend?

 

[Narideth]

i believe it’s the angle the one on the right was a lot closer to the camera, left is the female and she’s a lot bigger in person! I’m feeding pemysis shrimp mixed with prime flakes and they gobble all of it up. Truly stunning clowns wish this site didn’t compress photos

Good! I wish you good luck with your breeding attempts, but I don't have any help to offer unfortunately. I haven't tried that particular trial just yet.

 

[Skay]

gonna update this thread in the future if i see any progress, for now heavy feeding. I heard you can raise the temperature as well i’ll give that a try when they get more comfortable for now it’s at 78-80

 

[Mattiejay6]

alright i’ll see if i can put it in my bigger tank without it nuking my corals lol. I’m feeding pemysis mixed with prime flakes and they eat all of it, anything specific you recommend?

rods food or lrs fish frenzy., flakes are meh. Can’t beat good frozen fresh food.

 

[Mattiejay6]

rods food or lrs fish frenzy., flakes are meh. Can’t beat good frozen fresh food.

Also mysis works too .. I just like to mix up nutritional value

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

PE Mysis is good protein, but lacking in nutritious fats, so you’d probably want to supplement with something fatty with that diet.

Anyway, feeding well and keeping them low-stress seems to be about it for clowns. I need to update my feed recommendations (see the quote at the bottom), but - as mentioned in my first quote below - you can be pretty simple with clownfish diets and still have breeding:

I've never bred clowns myself, but here's the advice that I've gathered from the forum while looking into clownfish breeding:

As I understand it, the main things are proper feeding (probably several times a day) and making sure there's nothing stressing the fish out. From there, you pretty much leave them alone and they spawn.

I don't know what you're feeding, but from what I've seen with others, I'd recommend trying LRS Fertility Frenzy, black worms, and NLS or TDO pellets (Otohime is a proven brand too, but it seems to have fallen out of favor somewhat in recent months/years) for the food. Adding enriched Rotifers and pods/BBS wouldn't hurt either - and you'll need to culture the rots for the baby clowns anyway. Fresh clams are pretty much always a good idea too. That said, the feeding doesn't have to be overly complex or expensive (Paul B fed clams and blackworms and had spawning), the above is just what I've seen work for a large number of people.

Beyond that, I've heard the following tips from at least one breeder (no guarantees these would work for/help you, but it's what I've heard from a couple of confirmed breeders): clowns like dirtier water, a 14 hour light period, slightly lower salinity (1.020), and a higher temp (80-82F).

Some things that I've heard which you might want to be aware of:
- Any changes to the clowns' environment can cause them to stop spawning for a while (I've heard this can potentially last for months, but it seems to generally be a much shorter timeframe than that).
- Clownfish are apparently "racist" sometimes against clownfish of different colors than them, so it may be harder to pair them/deal with aggression between them if your broodstock (breeding) clowns are different colors.

That's what I've heard - I hope it helps. Good luck!

Personally, my suggested feeds would be as follows (I apologize, I haven't looked into frozen algae-heavy feeds enough to have one that I would suggest at this point; I'll have to remedy that):
Frozen (Meaty) - LRS Reef Frenzy, Hikari Mega Marine, then Rod's Original.
Pellets (Meaty) - Otohime, then TDO Chromaboost.
Pellets (Algal) - NLS Marine Fish Pellets (has 8 types of algae and one terrestrial plant).

 

[Skay]

PE Mysis is good protein, but lacking in nutritious fats, so you’d probably want to supplement with something fatty with that diet.

Anyway, feeding well and keeping them low-stress seems to be about it for clowns. I need to update my feed recommendations (see the quote at the bottom), but - as mentioned in my first quote below - you can be pretty simple with clownfish diets and still have breeding:

all this info this is fantastic thank you

 

[Frank SM]

I fed multiple clown species TDO Chromaboost pellets, cyclops, and a variety of frozen food, alternating what went in the water everyday. I fed a lot so you have to have appropriate filtration. Once they started cleaning, I would hatch BBS and add those. The "plankton bloom" is said to help, like temp. I'm not sure if it mattered more than just food variety and a lot of food. The other thing to do is adjust your light cycle. You want to move to a 12 hr on 12 hr off cycle. In my experience, a varied diet of a lot of high quality food with a 12 hr light cycle gives you your best chances. This has worked for me for cinnamon, clarkii, maroon, ocellaris, and skunks.

 

[Skay]

I fed multiple clown species TDO Chromaboost pellets, cyclops, and a variety of frozen food, alternating what went in the water everyday. I fed a lot so you have to have appropriate filtration. Once they started cleaning, I would hatch BBS and add those. The "plankton bloom" is said to help, like temp. I'm not sure if it mattered more than just food variety and a lot of food. The other thing to do is adjust your light cycle. You want to move to a 12 hr on 12 hr off cycle. In my experience, a varied diet of a lot of high quality food with a 12 hr light cycle gives you your best chances. This has worked for me for cinnamon, clarkii, maroon, ocellaris, and skunks.

thank you for the great advice, how did you deal with the algae or did you have the lights on the dim side. what was your setup? a ceramic pot or tile or did you have an anemone in there

 

[Frank SM]

All of my spawning pairs were in display tanks with anemones ranging from 40 to 90 gal except a pair of ocellaris. I would know when (day and time - always at night after lights out but the time varied depending on the pair) the eggs would hatch and would catch the fry before they became food for the tank mates. The ocellaris were in a 10 gal tank with a clay pot, no anemone. I would remove the pot the night of hatching and put it in a separate hatch tank. The ocellaris pair were in a tank which was plumbed with 9 other 10 gallon grow out tanks. The 10 tanks went to a 55 gal tank which I converted into a sump with heavy skimming, particulate filtration, heaters, etc. The other 9 x 10 gal tanks housed various clown juvenile species of various ages until they were sold. I used regular fluorescent shop lights on a 12 hour cycle. I would scrape the glass and siphon the tanks once a week or when needed.

 

[Skay]

All of my spawning pairs were in display tanks with anemones ranging from 40 to 90 gal except a pair of ocellaris. I would know when (day and time - always at night after lights out but the time varied depending on the pair) the eggs would hatch and would catch the fry before they became food for the tank mates. The ocellaris were in a 10 gal tank with a clay pot, no anemone. I would remove the pot the night of hatching and put it in a separate hatch tank. The ocellaris pair were in a tank which was plumbed with 9 other 10 gallon grow out tanks. The 10 tanks went to a 55 gal tank which I converted into a sump with heavy skimming, particulate filtration, heaters, etc. The other 9 x 10 gal tanks housed various clown juvenile species of various ages until they were sold. I used regular fluorescent shop lights on a 12 hour cycle. I would scrape the glass and siphon the tanks once a week or when needed.

just out of curiosity how was your profit?

 

[Frank SM]

just out of curiosity how was your profit?

Hahaha. What profit? I never tried to calculate how much money I lost. LFS would give store credit at $5 per fish. I would trade fish for corals at local swaps. After a few months the local market was saturated and they couldn't sell what I had. I didn't ship at the time. It was a lot of work but a lot of fun. When I couldn't move fish, I slowed things way down and eventually stopped when I moved for work.

 

[littlefoxx]

Lucked out and found local reefer getting out of the hobby and gave me this bonded pair of clowns. They are about 4 years old. Interested in possibly breeding them, not sure where to start. Most youtube videos focus on after they lay eggs, my question is how do i get there lol. I got them set up in a 10 gallon with an anemone i should probably get a tile to put in there right? I know they won’t bother for a while cause they just moved but is there any steps i should take as of now? If this works out everyone is getting free clowns lol (if you’re local to orlando) Absolutely love this strain i believe premium frostbite or blackice.

Trying to breed my clowns too. Mine havnt found a spot to lay eggs yet, but my understanding is the will when they fibd a spot

 

[Skay]

Hahaha. What profit? I never tried to calculate how much money I lost. LFS would give store credit at $5 per fish. I would trade fish for corals at local swaps. After a few months the local market was saturated and they couldn't sell what I had. I didn't ship at the time. It was a lot of work but a lot of fun. When I couldn't move fish, I slowed things way down and eventually stopped when I moved for work.

super interesting what type of clownfish? did you keep any of the offspring?

 

[Frank SM]

super interesting what type of clownfish? did you keep any of the offspring?

I had spawning pairs of cinnamon, clarkii, maroon, ocellaris, and skunks. I raised fry of all but the skunks. No, I didn't keep any during my move.